John (55, Real Estate Broker, Arizona)

J: You know, Mr Trump has his flaws, but at least he’s honest about what he believes. I think Hillary Clinton’s just fake, a liar and won’t be good for our country.

GQ: Do you not think Donald Trump’s temperament might be a problem?

J: His temperament is interesting, but the nice thing about it is if we can’t predict it then neither can our allies or our villains.

GQ: Do you think he’s more honest than Hillary?

J: To put it this way, they said that he did certain things and he came out and said: ‘Yes, I did it. I’m sorry I did it. It was a mistake.’ You’ll never hear those words come from Hillary Clinton.

Billie (57, Homemaker, Florida)

GQ: Who will you be voting for?

B: I will be voting for Donald J Trump.

GQ: And why’s that?

B: Because I think he will be a much better president than Hillary Clinton.

GQ: What are the attributes he’s got that Hillary hasn’t got?

B: Well, for me, I just know Trump for years, of who he is and what he has done for himself and all his businesses. So he can run a business. Whereas Hillary has only fouled along and not done anything for herself.

GQ: But he did get his businesses into rather a lot of debt in the 90s.

B: But, you know what, a lot of people have and you can still be financially successful even when you’re fouling the laws of the tax system. It’s all he did. And a lot of Democrats voted in those laws. So, he’s my choice – one and only choice.

Petter (63, Businessman, Fort Lauderdale, Florida)

GQ: Who will you be voting for?

P: Trump.

GQ: And why’s that?

P: There’s only one choice.

GQ: What are some of his attributes that you respect or think would make him a good president?

P: Well, I think we have to look at the opponent rather so – see where we are today. Are we going to have another 8 years of Obama care and Obama all this and everything you see is just economy. I mean, we have growth that is less than 1 per cent of GNP, so where are we today?

GQ: Isn’t that maybe a result of the financial crisis?

P: There’s only one answer, you know? And I’m from Norway originally, so…

W: Because America needs a businessman. The left has run us into so much debt that without somebody at the helm that understands running a business… America is a business. It’s a big country, but it’s a big business. We’ve got to have a businessman at the helm because the left is tax and spend and giving away money to all the freeloaders. They’ve ruined the country and if Hillary gets in you can kiss America goodbye.

GQ: You don’t have any concerns about Trump’s character?

W: Yes. But he is a good businessman? Yes.

GQ: But he did lose a billion dollars back in the 90s, didn’t he?

C: And how many did he make after that?

W: Regardless of Trump losing then money, he bankrupted those countries to save the rest of his empire, which employs tens of thousands of people, but the left never talks about that. He used the laws that the left developed to protect business people from completely running out of cash so that they can continue to function. But they don’t talk about that, do they?

C: Hillary lies to whoever she wants to lie to; for whatever’s convenient to what that person wants to hear. If you look at what she says today: she said she’s going to tax the rich to pay for all of her multi-billion dollar programs. If you look at everybody who gets taxed 100 per cent that makes over a million dollars it’s not enough to even pay for what we have now, much less to pay for what she’s going to do and how she’s going to ruin this country later on. If you want to go by emotions and you want things that feel good, and warm puppies and butterflies, if you believe that scenario, then go ahead and vote for Hillary; if you understand dollars and cents, and you understand the trouble this country is in, you have to vote for TRUMP.

W: I own a transportation company, actually three of them, and if the left gets in, if Hillary gets in, I’m liquidating, because she’s going to tax me over 50 per cent. I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to work and give 50 per cent of my money to her to give to freeloaders to buy boats to keep her corrupt ass in politics. It’s not going to happen; it’s time to check out.

Rich (47, Industry, Indiana)

GQ: Who will you be voting for in the election?

R: Honestly, I wish I had a better choice than the two people who are running right now, but it kind of seems like that’s who we’re stuck with. It’s a hard balance. But, I guess if I had to say, I’d probably vote Trump.

GQ: Okay, why’s that?

R: I can’t really give you an educated… I’d like to say all the right answers, but that’s just my gut feeling. We need somebody who’s going to run this country like a business. I mean, obviously, his name is on quite a bit of stuff and either he’s got the right team around him or he knows how to do something right.

GQ: And you don’t have any concerns about his character or his temperament?

R: Yeah, but everybody’s got a temper; he’s just not afraid to show it as much. I guess he’s not holding back.

GQ: Do you not think that might be dangerous in an international relations perspective: talking too strongly about dealing with Iran or whoever it might be?

R: Whether he talks about it or whether he actually backs it up, or has actions to go with his words, that will be… That could cause us some issues, if he actually starts following through with some of the things he’s saying. I guess I wish I knew more about Hillary and that way I could have better… Educated about who I should really vote for. All as you really see is what you see on TV and what you hear in the media. You don’t know what’s true; and until you actually get to meet the people and be around them, you’ll never know what they’re really like or what they really can do.

D: It’s hard to say. This is a crazy election. I think I’m going to go with Trump.

GQ: Why’s that?

A: Because I don’t like Hillary.

D: Yeah, because I don’t like Hillary.

A: They’re both not great options.

GQ: You think that’s the least bad option? You don’t have concerns about Trump’s temperament?

D: No, I don’t.

GQ: What do you think his good points are?

A: I think he’s more straightforward and less secretive than Hillary; he’s an arsehole but he doesn’t lie about it.

GQ: Has he not lied a bit about some things? Or refused to reveal some stuff?

A: They both have. I think he’s a little more straightforward

Trish (46)

GQ: Who are you going to be voting for?

T: Trump

GQ: And why’s that?

T: Do I have to do this? I think he can change a lot. We need a change and I think it’s about time.

GQ: What sort of change do you think he’s going to bring?

T: Jobs, more jobs, more safety to our country.

GQ: Even though some of his rhetoric seems a bit sabre-rattley, a bit scary?

T: A little controversial there, yeah.

Kevin (36, Operating Engineer/Security, Las Vegas):

GQ: Who are you going to be voting for?

K: As far as this year’s election, I really don’t think any of the candidates have anything to offer, so I’m still undecided at this point. I think they’re both bad decisions. It just depends which bad decision you want to go with.

GQ: Do you think one might be worse than the other?

K: Maybe Trump will be a little better if he runs it like a business. In my opinion, Hillary’s pretty corrupt at this point. If you’d asked me 8 years ago I probably would have voted for Hillary, but the things she’s done since then… I can’t vote for her anymore.

GQ: What’s changed?

K: A lot’s come out and plus the whole Benghazi thing, and all the lies, the email scandal, and things from her past that I didn’t know about, like when she was a lawyer and she got that child molester off and then she was laughing about it in an interview. You can’t really respect someone like that who clearly admits she knows the guy was guilty and was laughing about the victim and how the victim had to pretty much deal with it because the offender got off. That’s something that Hilary’s proud about. In my opinion, getting a child molester off isn’t something to be proud about. So if I had to pick the lesser of the two, I’d probably go with Trump.

Ryan (31, Construction Labourer, Las Vegas)

GQ: Who are you going to be voting for?

R: I’m voting for Trump

GQ: Why’s that?

R: I think it’s time for a change in the Office – somebody who’s actually not a politician. He’s business savvy, he knows what he’s talking about. I think we need that in the office.

GQ: You don’t worry about his character or his temperament?

R: Well, I think because of his character and his temperament is what got him to where he’s at, his being a billionare, so I give him props for that. He was leeway in that sense, in my opinion.

GQ: And you think that will work in the same way for the country as it did for the business?

R: Absolutely

Frank (33, Security, Las Vegas)

GQ: Who are you going to be voting for?

F: Probably Trump.

GQ: Trump? Why’s that?

F: That’s a good question. I just don’t buy the whole racism thing; I think immigration is probably an issue that should be talked about maybe a little bit more on a responsible level and less vitriol I think, maybe. I think Hillary’s a criminal: the Wikileaks thing, following up on that. I should read more about it. I don’t like Bill. I think there’s some weird shit going on with them.

GQ: So, you prefer the way that Trump talks about immigration to the way that Clinton talks about it?

F: Well, I wouldn’t say Trump talks about it in my favourite way, but at least he’s talking about it. And from what I know about the guy, in his past history, he’s not really like racist. I think there’s a uniform media bias against him and the more I see bias and not actually talking about the issues, the more it makes me want to vote for him.